


these shadows we're passing through

by savedby



Series: Now and Forever [2]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Sickfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-09
Updated: 2017-12-09
Packaged: 2019-02-12 13:04:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12959814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/savedby/pseuds/savedby
Summary: Auston sneezes, loudly, spraying snot everywhere.“You’re so gross,” Mitch says, fascinated, and pulls a pack of tissues out of his pocket. Auston takes one and tries to glare at him. He looks unbelievably grumpy and tired and Mitch’s heart aches.Auston gets sick. Mitch is overbearing. And Zach does everything right.





	these shadows we're passing through

**Author's Note:**

> Biggest thanks to [frecklebombfic](https://archiveofourown.org/users/frecklebomb/pseuds/frecklebombfic), for making up this verse with me and supporting its expansion and also for the beta work.
> 
> Title is from Bruce Springsteen's Frankie, because who am I without niche Springsteen tracks?

 

 

“Can you get off my case about this?” Auston snaps, causing Mitch to recoil. 

 

“You have a fever!” Mitch tries. There’s colour high in Auston’s cheeks and he’d complained of a headache a couple of minutes ago. The floor around his stall is strewn with used tissues.  

 

“Don’t act like you haven’t played through worse,” Auston says, harshly, in a tone that doesn’t allow for any more arguments. He turns back to his skates, indicating that the conversation is finished.

 

The locker room is suspiciously quiet around them and Mitch can see Zach looking between them with wide, worried eyes that Mitch can’t bring himself to meet.

 

Mitch swallows heavily and nods to himself. He sits down in his stall next to Zach.

 

He wants to ask Zach if he messed up, trying to interfere with Auston’s health. Maybe it looks to Auston as if Mitch is doing this out of a sense of competition? Mitch isn’t. Auston’s temperature has been steadily rising since the morning, and he’s worried. 

 

There’s no opportunity to ask Zach if he’s worried too.

 

They hadn’t talked about that yet. Mitch doesn’t know how to navigate that boundary, or how to ask.

 

Zach hands him his tape and uses the motion to squeeze Mitch’s hand gently. That makes it easier. Zach always makes things so much easier.

 

Mitch breathes in deep and focuses on his pre-game routine, and he doesn’t offer to do up Auston’s skates for him or ask him how he’s feeling again.

  
  


*

  
  


Auston seems fine, playing. He goes off with the team doctor during intermission, but he scores and has an assist, and Mitch overhears Willy chirping him about catching his virus from the celebratory hugs.

 

It lasts just about until the end of the game. Auston blows off the reporters in order to lie down in the quiet room. 

 

Mitch exchanges a glance with Zach.

 

“I’ll go check on him, you take the media?” Zach offers and Mitch nods, embarrassed by how relieved he feels.

  
  


*

  
  


As Mitch deals with the reporters, Zach somehow manages to get both himself and Auston showered and changed, and ready for the plane.

 

Zach is kind of amazing, Mitch learns every day.

 

Auston is wearing a thick jacket but he’s still visibly shivering and leaning into Zach’s space more than he usually allows himself to. 

 

Mitch opens his mouth but the question dies on his lips. Zach seems to understand anyway because he offers him a reassuring nod.

 

Then Auston sneezes, loudly, spraying snot everywhere.

 

“You’re so gross,” Mitch says, fascinated, and pulls a pack of tissues out of his pocket. Auston takes one and tries to glare at him. He looks unbelievably grumpy and tired and Mitch’s heart aches.

 

“Let’s get out of here,” Zach says softly after Auston blows his nose. He directs Auston through the door with a firm hand on his lower back. Mitch grabs their bags and follows.

  
  


*

  
  


It would all be so much easier if they weren’t on an away trip. 

 

It feels like it would all be okay if they could just get Auston to Zach’s apartment, to their humongous bed, wrap him up in familiar linen and their arms. Zach would warm up soup and make tea, and they could curl up against Auston’s sides until his fever broke and his sinuses cleared up.

 

But the plane to Vancouver is waiting and they have no excuse to not be on it. They’re a long way from home.

  
  


*

  
  


Mitch bullies the vets out of the seats with more leg room. They leave with curiously little argument. He catches sight of Matt behind him, still glaring, and smiles to himself. 

 

As soon as they’re in the air, he sets about putting up the armrests and plugging the holes between seats, so that Auston can lay down with his head in Zach’s lap.

 

Auston goes without argument, making himself comfortable with a laboured sigh. 

 

Mitch stays for a long moment, watching the way Zach leans over to brush hair out of Auston’s face. His chest suddenly feels tight and too warm, and it’s not from the air pressure.

 

And then he leaves to find them some soup.

  
  


*

  
  


The flight attendants on the team plane are all worried too. Mitch comes into their cabin to them arguing about whether to warm tomato or chicken noodle soup. 

 

Mitch breaks into their conversation. “Chicken noodle, please,” he says, “Matts doesn’t like tomatoes.”

 

They spring into action. In a couple of minutes, he’s got his arms full of soup, strong brewed tea, orange juice and crackers. It’s a good thing he’s been putting on muscle, otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to carry it all.

 

“Take care of him,” one of the flight attendants says, patting his hand. He doesn’t know how much she knows, can never tell how obvious they are to teammates or support staff, but he smiles at her anyway.

 

“Thank you,” he tells them and staggers down the hallway.

  
  


*

  
  


Auston is awake by the time Mitch comes back. He’s sitting up, leaning against Zach and he takes the container of soup without complaint and drinks it. Mitch sits on the floor, cross-legged and pours Zach a glass of orange juice.

 

He’s torn between reaching out to tuck Auston’s blanket in and worry that he’ll annoy him again when Auston speaks.

 

“You guys should leave me alone,” he says, voice hoarse. Zach’s cup freezes on the way to his mouth and Mitch curls his hands into fists to tamp down on the flash of pain.

 

“What are you talking about?” Mitch asks with a nervous laugh. 

 

“I’m fine,” Auston insists. He sways into Zach in a way that betrays that as a lie. He sneezes, and Mitch hands him a tissue automatically. 

 

“You’re sick, we can’t just leave you,” Mitch says. Zach’s face is unreadable as he looks between them.

 

“I’ll get you sick,” Auston says softly, sounding almost helpless. 

 

Mitch looks at him, his hazy eyes and his red nose and his snot, and he doesn’t know if he wants to punch him for being stupid or kiss him for being stupid. He looks at Zach for help, and he seems to understand.

 

“If you really feel like you need space from us, we’ll leave,” Zach says quietly, “but if you’re doing this out of some sense of obligation, don’t. We want to take care of you.”

 

Auston cranes his neck to look at him, then at Mitch. Mitch does his best to look resolute, even though he’s not sure he could leave Auston even if he asked him to. Zach would have to tie him to the bed and while that’s a nice thought in most other circumstances, he’d really rather avoid it this time.

 

“Okay,” Auston says, hoarsely, “thank you.”

 

Mitch relaxes, watching as Zach smiles and runs his hand through Auston’s hair fondly.  He looks around the plane to see if anyone is looking their way, but their teammates are preoccupied with listening to Naz and Leo argue over the intricacies of their barbecue pit. It’s always the best sort of in-flight entertainment.

 

He leans forward to kiss Auston’s cheek, reaching up to tangle his fingers with Zach’s. Zach makes a soft sound under his breath, and when Mitch looks up, he’s looking at them with so much tenderness in his expression, it feels almost overwhelming.

 

“Everything will be alright,” Mitch says, firmly, smiling as the words smooth the worry lines on Zach’s face. Auston sighs as he turns on his side to bury his face in Zach’s stomach. Mitch reaches up to distractedly rub his back while he makes himself comfortable on the floor.

 

They stay like that until the plane starts descending and the ‘fasten seatbelts’ sign comes on.

  
  


*

  
  


If he had time to stop and examine it, Mitch would be fascinated by how well he and Zach work as a team. Zach gets Auston up and off the plane, wrapping him in a frightening amount of scarves that he just seems to pull out of nowhere, while Mitch collects all their bags and uses them to bully Mo and Gards out of the nice front seats on the bus. 

 

He has to be restrained once from giving the bus driver a stern talking to about driving too quickly over potholes.

  
  


*

  
  


Zach and Mitch still share a room even though neither of them is a rookie anymore. At first, it seemed like a bureaucratic error, but as the season went on, Mitch started feeling suspicious that someone in the know was keeping it like that deliberately. Auston certainly wasn’t subtle about how often he spent time in their room.

 

It works out especially well for them this time, as Zach ushers Auston into the bathroom to get him ready for bed, while Mitch gets busy rearranging the beds. It’s almost routine at this point, dragging the heavy bed frames together, pulling out the bed linen, then using the spare blankets to stuff the gap in the middle. He then remakes the beds so that the bed linen binds it all together. 

 

It usually holds for most of the night, but inevitably by morning one of them would be hanging on precariously, trying not to roll through the hole onto the floor.

 

Zach and Auston come back, and for a moment Mitch just watches them, as Auston drinks his herbal tea and Zach squints at the labels on his cold medicine. He grabs Zach’s shower gel and slips out into the bathroom, to wash off the plane and get ready for bed.

  
  


He steps out of the shower, right into Zach’s arms. Mitch lets out a squeak of surprise but allows himself to be tugged in and wrapped in the towel that Zach is holding out to him. 

 

“What’s up?” he asks, muffled against Zach's chest.

 

“There weren’t enough towels so I went and got you some,” Zach explains.

 

“Thank you,” Mitch says, reaching out to hug him back even though he’s still a little wet. “You doing okay?” 

 

“Yeah, of course,” Zach says, sounding surprised. “Are you?”

 

“Just worried,” Mitch says, huffing out a breath. “Do you think I’m being overbearing?”

 

Zach shrugs. “You’re worried,” he says, “I get it. We were worried about you too when you played through mono last season.”

 

It hurts, realizing he’d been causing them pain. He swallows down the excuses gathered in his mouth. He’s been getting better at that. “I’m sorry,” is what he says instead.

 

“It’s okay,” Zach says, and Mitch watches him smile in the reflection of the mirror. “I want to say don’t do it again, but...I get how it is.”

 

“You can say whatever you want,” Mitch says, pulling back. “Your opinion is important. If you think I’m really risking my health, then I’ll try to listen.” 

 

It seems suddenly very important that Zach knows this. He’ll have to remember to tell Auston at some point too. The two of them are intimately familiar with the risks of their lives and in Zach’s case, have been living with them longer. And they weren’t prone to overreaction, not like he was.

 

“That’s good to know,” Zach says, “and your opinion is important too. Just, please talk to me and don’t just try to tie me to the bed if you think I’m overexerting myself.”

 

Mitch shakes his head. “Only tie you to the bed in nice circumstances,” he points out. 

 

“Now there’s a thought for another day,” Zach says, leaning down to kiss him.

 

“Did you remember to bring my pyjamas too?” Mitch asks when they break apart and Zach laughs. 

 

“Of course I did.”

 

“You’re an angel,” Mitch says, enjoying how Zach flushes red at the compliment. He has no problems with naked men walking around him and conversations about bondage, but give the boy a compliment and he goes redder than a tomato.

 

In the bedroom, Auston is sprawled out in his usual bed-hogging way. He opens his eyes when they stumble in, and they seem a little clearer than they were on the plane.

 

“I could hear you two giggling in the bathroom,” he says. Mitch jumps onto the bed and spoons up behind him, pressing a kiss to the back of his neck.

 

“We were gossiping about you,” he tells him, and Auston huffs, but grabs onto the hand Mitch throws around his middle, tangling their fingers.

 

Zach makes sure the room is locked and that everyone’s phones are charging, then turns off the lights and settles into bed next to them. Auston raises his head so he can drop it down on Zach’s shoulder, and after a moment, Mitch can feel Zach’s fingers brushing through his hair and settling at the base of his skull.

 

It’s Mitch’s favourite way to sleep, even if they can never keep it up for very long because Zach’s arm falls asleep. 

 

Mitch closes his eyes and listens to their combined breathing, tracking the rasping almost-snores of Auston’s breath. He’s still too hot against Mitch’s front, definitely still feverish, but he seems peaceful enough, curled up between them.

  
  


*

  
  


In the middle of the night, Mitch wakes up sweaty, with Auston wiggling in his hold. He’s soaked through with sweat, but at least his fever seems to have broken.

 

“Sorry,” Auston mumbles, sounding embarrassed.

 

“You’re gross,” Mitch whispers, pressing a kiss to Auston’s sweaty hair before getting up to find them another pair of pyjamas to change into.

  
  


*

  
  


“We were the ones sleeping with you, so how did Bozie get your virus?”

 

“Yeah, Matts, who have you been making out with?”

 

“It won’t be you if you keep this up, that’s for sure.”

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Notes:  
> \- Auston played sick last week and it was [awful](https://twitter.com/JeffVeillette/status/936429230715437057)  
> \- I have no insider knowledge on Auston's feelings about tomatoes  
> \- Zach and Mitch were road roommates last season  
> \- and Mitch did play through mono for more than half of last season  
> \- Apparently, Tyler Bozak actually had the stomach flu, but him coming down with an illness right after Auston looked really suspicious  
> \- Zach Hyman is amazing, that is all thank you


End file.
